By TIM CARPENTER
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The president of Midwestern State University was selected Wednesday to serve as the 15th president of Washburn University.
JuliAnn Mazachek, who worked 30 years at Washburn before leaving in 2022 for Midwestern State, was chosen by the university’s board of regents to replace Jerry Farley. He retired in September after a quarter century leading the Topeka university. The interim president was Marshall Meek, who runs the WU Alumni Association and Foundation.
“Today is a remarkable, memorable and life-changing day for me — one I had only dreamed about through the years,” Mazachek told a standing-room-only crowd at the student union. “I am deeply honored and deeply thrilled to return home to the great state of Kansas and to serve this outstanding institution at such an important time in its history and in an important time in higher education.”
She will begin her new duties at Washburn on Feb. 1.
WU is a public university with 6,000 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. It has approximately 500 faculty. The university is connected to Washburn Tech.
Mazachek joined the WU faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor of accounting after earning a doctorate from the University of Kansas. She became dean of Washburn’s business school in 1998. In 2002, Mazachek accepted the position of president and CEO of the university’s alumni and foundation organization.
In 2017, she was named vice president of academic affairs at Washburn. She departed Washburn in spring 2022 to lead Midwestern State. It’s a liberal arts school with 6,000 students in Wichita Falls, Texas.
In a statement released by Midwestern State, Mazachek said the decision to leave the Texas university was a “very difficult decision.”
Mazachek said she all of her children took classes at Washburn and through their experiences she understood more deeply the difference WU faculty made in the lives of students.
“We cannot possibly know yet what all the possibilities are for Washburn University and its future,” Mazachek said. “This is a wonderful place dedicated to its students and their success. This is a place integral to the success of its community and our state. This is a place poised to take the next step and rise.”
Shelly Buhler, president of the Washburn board of Regents, said Mazachek was committed to academic excellence and the core values of integrity, excellence, inclusion, accountability, respect, collaboration and innovation.
“Our new president will continue to … move the university forward while embracing our rich history,” Buhler said.
She said the 28-member search committee worked through more than 75 applicants for the job. The board of regents interviewed several finalists during December.